Random Articles
Have a deep view into what people are curious about.
🔗 Post-quantum cryptography: just in case
Post-quantum cryptography (sometimes referred to as quantum-proof, quantum-safe or quantum-resistant) refers to cryptographic algorithms (usually public-key algorithms) that are thought to be secure against an attack by a quantum computer. As of 2019, this is not true for the most popular public-key algorithms, which can be efficiently broken by a sufficiently strong quantum computer. The problem with currently popular algorithms is that their security relies on one of three hard mathematical problems: the integer factorization problem, the discrete logarithm problem or the elliptic-curve discrete logarithm problem. All of these problems can be easily solved on a sufficiently powerful quantum computer running Shor's algorithm. Even though current, publicly known, experimental quantum computers lack processing power to break any real cryptographic algorithm, many cryptographers are designing new algorithms to prepare for a time when quantum computing becomes a threat. This work has gained greater attention from academics and industry through the PQCrypto conference series since 2006 and more recently by several workshops on Quantum Safe Cryptography hosted by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and the Institute for Quantum Computing.
In contrast to the threat quantum computing poses to current public-key algorithms, most current symmetric cryptographic algorithms and hash functions are considered to be relatively secure against attacks by quantum computers. While the quantum Grover's algorithm does speed up attacks against symmetric ciphers, doubling the key size can effectively block these attacks. Thus post-quantum symmetric cryptography does not need to differ significantly from current symmetric cryptography. See section on symmetric-key approach below.
Discussed on
- "Post-quantum cryptography" | 2018-11-12 | 20 Upvotes 14 Comments
- "Post-quantum cryptography" | 2015-08-22 | 50 Upvotes 21 Comments
🔗 Fan death
Fan death is a widely held belief in Korean culture, where it is thought that running an electric fan in a closed room with unopened or no windows will prove fatal. Despite no concrete evidence to support the concept, belief in fan death persists to this day in Korea, and also to a lesser extent in Japan and Russia.
Discussed on
- "Fan Death" | 2021-01-12 | 30 Upvotes 11 Comments
- "Fan death" | 2018-11-12 | 52 Upvotes 48 Comments
- "Fan death" | 2018-06-11 | 11 Upvotes 1 Comments
- "Fan death" | 2017-09-28 | 20 Upvotes 1 Comments
🔗 Cantu a tenore
The cantu a tenòre (Sardinian: su tenòre, su cuncòrdu, su cuntràttu, su cussèrtu, s'agorropamèntu, su cantu a pròa; Italian: canto a tenore) is a style of polyphonic folk singing characteristic of the island of Sardinia (Italy's second largest island), particularly the region of Barbagia, though some other Sardinian sub-regions bear examples of such tradition.
In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed the cantu a tenore to be an example of intangible cultural heritage.
Discussed on
- "Cantu a tenore" | 2023-03-29 | 69 Upvotes 26 Comments
🔗 Hashlife
Hashlife is a memoized algorithm for computing the long-term fate of a given starting configuration in Conway's Game of Life and related cellular automata, much more quickly than would be possible using alternative algorithms that simulate each time step of each cell of the automaton. The algorithm was first described by Bill Gosper in the early 1980s while he was engaged in research at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Hashlife was originally implemented on Symbolics Lisp machines with the aid of the Flavors extension.
Discussed on
- "HashLife – A memoized algorithm for Conway's Game of Life and cellular automata" | 2024-01-12 | 80 Upvotes 12 Comments
- "Hashlife" | 2017-06-11 | 10 Upvotes 2 Comments
🔗 DRAKON – An algorithmic visual programming language
DRAKON is an algorithmic visual programming and modeling language developed within the Buran space project following ergonomic design principles. The language provides a uniform way to represent flowcharts of any complexity that are easy to read and understand.
The DRAKON Editor, which was released in September 2011, is an implementation of the language available in the public domain. It can be used for creating documentation, or for creating visual programs that can be converted to source code in other languages.
Unlike UML's philosophy, DRAKON's language philosophy is based on being augmented if needed, by using a hybrid language, which can be illustrated as "incrustating code snippets from text language used into shape DRAKON requires". This way, DRAKON always remains a simple visual language that can be used as an augmentation for a programmer who is interested in making their own project code easier to support or other long-term needs for example improving the ergonomics of the coding process or to making code easier to review and understand.
The name DRAKON is the Russian acronym for "Дружелюбный Русский Алгоритмический [язык], Который Обеспечивает Наглядность", which translates to "Friendly Russian algorithmic [language] that illustrates (or provides clarity)". The word "наглядность" (pronounced approximately as "naa-glya-dno-st-th") refers to a concept or idea being easy to imagine and understand, and may be translated as "clarity".
The DRAKON language can be used both as a modelling/"markup" language (which is considered a standalone "pure DRAKON" program) and as a programming language (as part of a hybrid language).
Integration of a stricter, "academic", variant of a markup language into programming, such as provided by DRAKON, adds syntactic sugar allowing users of different programming languages to comprehend each other's contributions to the overall project and even provide commentary if needed.
Discussed on
- "DRAKON" | 2024-08-19 | 213 Upvotes 59 Comments
- "DRAKON – An algorithmic visual programming language" | 2015-08-21 | 86 Upvotes 48 Comments
🔗 Sputnik is 60 today
Sputnik 1 ( or ; "Satellite-1", or "PS-1", Простейший Спутник-1 or Prosteyshiy Sputnik-1, "Elementary Satellite 1") was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957, orbiting for three weeks before its batteries died, then silently for two more months before falling back into the atmosphere. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. Its radio signal was easily detectable by radio amateurs, and the 65° inclination and duration of its orbit made its flight path cover virtually the entire inhabited Earth. The satellite's unanticipated success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War. The launch was the beginning of a new era of political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The name "Sputnik" is Russian for spouse/traveling companion or satellite when interpreted in an astronomical context.
Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information. The density of the upper atmosphere could be deduced from its drag on the orbit, and the propagation of its radio signals gave data about the ionosphere.
Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at about 29,000 kilometres per hour (18,000 mph; 8,100 m/s), taking 96.2 minutes to complete each orbit. It transmitted on 20.005 and 40.002 MHz, which were monitored by radio operators throughout the world. The signals continued for 21 days until the transmitter batteries ran out on 26 October 1957. Sputnik burned up on 4 January 1958 while reentering Earth's atmosphere, after three months, 1440 completed orbits of the Earth, and a distance travelled of about 70 million km (43 million mi).
Discussed on
- "Sputnik is 60 today" | 2017-10-04 | 11 Upvotes 2 Comments
🔗 Bardcore
Bardcore (from the Celtic-origin word “bard” meaning ‘poet’ or ‘storyteller’) or tavernwave is a 2020 internet phenomenon consisting of medievalised remakes of hit pop songs.
Discussed on
- "Bardcore" | 2020-09-02 | 454 Upvotes 164 Comments
🔗 Mecanum wheel
The Mecanum wheel is a omnidirectional wheel design for a land-based vehicle to move in any direction. It is sometimes called the Ilon wheel after its inventor, Bengt Erland Ilon (1923-2008), who came up with the concept while working as an engineer with the Swedish company Mecanum AB, and patented it in the United States on November 13, 1972.
Discussed on
- "Mecanum Wheel" | 2024-09-13 | 70 Upvotes 26 Comments
- "Mecanum wheel" | 2018-05-04 | 169 Upvotes 50 Comments
🔗 Moin
Moin, moi or mojn is a Low German, Frisian, High German (moin [moin] or Moin, [Moin]), Danish (mojn) and Kashubian (mòjn) greeting from East Frisia, Southern Schleswig (including North Frisia and Flensburg), Bremen, Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the eastern and northern Netherlands, Southern Jutland in Denmark and parts of Kashubia.
It means "hello" and, in some places, "goodbye" as well.
Discussed on
- "Moin" | 2020-08-17 | 19 Upvotes 10 Comments
🔗 Berkson's Paradox
Berkson's paradox also known as Berkson's bias or Berkson's fallacy is a result in conditional probability and statistics which is often found to be counterintuitive, and hence a veridical paradox. It is a complicating factor arising in statistical tests of proportions. Specifically, it arises when there is an ascertainment bias inherent in a study design. The effect is related to the explaining away phenomenon in Bayesian networks, and conditioning on a collider in graphical models.
It is often described in the fields of medical statistics or biostatistics, as in the original description of the problem by Joseph Berkson.
Discussed on
- "Berkson's Paradox" | 2022-11-20 | 101 Upvotes 10 Comments
- "Berkson's Paradox" | 2018-12-12 | 87 Upvotes 21 Comments
- "Berkson's Paradox" | 2014-09-03 | 39 Upvotes 20 Comments